Friday, February 15, 2013

ART and CAPITALISM

Does that title shock you?

If it does then you are without a doubt an artist.  But why does it shock you?  Why does it send a shiver up and down your spine and make you feel almost sick to your stomach?  It is because you are a capitalist... and you don’t want to admit it.  Oh, you can write me all the hate mail that you want... I wont read any of it... unless I need a good laugh. 

I am sometimes an artist, sometimes a poet, occasionally a composer, but mostly a capitalist. Everything I do, I do for money.

All of my artistic pursuits I do for money, but don’t think it is just the money I am after - the money is a tool for my final goal, I need that money in order to acquire the thing that I want the most in life, and as far as my art is concerned, I am very passionate about it. I relish the moments I get to spend in my pursuits of perfecting a poem or some graphic design, I love to be drowned in the passion and the desperation of seducing the inspiration out of the ether... but, I also want the money.

Fame - if it comes will more than likely make an appearance long after I am dead... and those I leave behind will get to enjoy the fruits of my madness - the money!

God willing I will leave behind children whom themselves will be capitalist and be able to build a bigger fortune from the art I leave behind.

I invest in art.  I invest in the things I find beautiful, in art that inspires me and moves me... perhaps something that will set my imagination and my soul on fire every time I look at it... or something that will calm me and help bring me closer to my God... many of these works might not bring in any money later on, but I also invest in art looking ahead to the future.

I have worked with artist as a broker - selling their work on commission of course, and I have yet to meet an artist who was not appreciative of the money I brought in for selling one of their pieces.  That is because being artist as we are, we have no sense of money, meaning we just aren’t that good at managing it - well, most artist. 

Do not be ashamed to admit it. You like the money.

We like to dream of selling a manuscript that will break sales records and be turned into a six part miniseries or major motion picture that will spin off into a franchise wilder than anything J. K. Rowling could have dreamed of. A musician wants those platinum records on his wall and the fortune that comes with his royalties and world tours.  A painter wants a cult like following that hasn’t been achieved since Warhol... and have no doubts about it, no matter what your feelings of Warhol’s art might be, he was a capitalist.

When we are young and hungry and naive and idealistic the money means nothing. We simply wish to create great art that will move and inspire others, but sooner or later reality will set in and many will give up their artistic pursuits while others will chase after it with a burning desire that will result in nothing less than fame and fortune... and of course there are those whom will simply just stumble and fall into the fame and fortune do to whatever art they may have produced.  We live in an age where we make idols out of idiots while true performers go hungry... dreaming of fame and fortune...

Do you remember your child-hood idols, the artists and performers you looked up to when you were young? How do they live today? Remember Johnny Rotten from the eighties punk band “the Sex Pistols”?  Have you seen his home? His art collection? That dude is a capitalist... I would venture to say that all Hollywood actors and all the major musicians that fill the shelves of your music collection are capitalist, with their big mansions and car collections and jets... they have to be... Bono, from U2 - Capitalist, he even lives in a tax haven country...

There are Artist that will reach heights as Prince and Michael and Janet Jackson whom will get the hundred million dollar recording contracts - and though they will complain about how their record company stifles their art... they wont do much complaining about the money.

There is no shame in it.  Embrace it!

We are artist.  Rich or poor, we create and there is no shame in wanting to be recognized for what we do.

You bring joy to the world.  You inspire.  You motivate and move others to do what they other-wise would not have done without your art... You help dreamers dream and lovers find the words they could not find without you...

Now, Imagine all the good that you can do as an artist with money...

Art and Capitalism... the two need each other... the two where meant for each other...

Stop fighting it and embrace it and go with the flow... we can’t enjoy it when we are dead...
DIAMOND
sketch 
design for a private 
label collection
1996
by 
Victor Vogt

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